Photo of the Month

May, 2002

BLOOMSBURG’S JOSEPH RATTI HOSPITAL

Dr. John W. Bruner, a Bloomsburg surgeon, was one of the early proponents of a hospital in Bloomsburg. In pursuing this goal, he sought the help of Joseph Ratti, the principal stockholder of the Bloomsburg Silk Mill, who readily agreed to endorse the project. This was a logical choice since he had been known to favoring a hospital in the town. As an active businessman involved in community affairs, Ratti took an active role for forming an organization that included several prominent business leaders on March 8, 1905, to lead the effort in getting the hospital established.

He purchased the home of W. L. Ritter at 587 East Fifth Street, northwest corner of East Fifth and Spruce Streets for $4,500, and made it available to be converted into a hospital. From a community fund drive that raised $6,190 along with Ratti’s contribution of $5,000, there was enough money to transform the home into a hospital and provide the necessary medical equipment needed for a modern medical facility. In appreciation for his philanthropy and to recognize his leadership, the hospital board decided to name it the Joseph Ratti Hospital. A local newspaper remarked that "his philanthropy, never ostentatious, was manifest on all sides and many of his employees can testify to his liberality in ways that had no bearing on business."

The hospital floor space consisting of three stories was substantially enlarged with an addition built on the upperside of the structure. It had modern plumbing and an elevator. The first floor had two wards each having three beds, offices, kitchen, dining room, and an emergency room. A children’s ward existed on the second floor along with a few private rooms for patients, operating room, and a laboratory. The third floor contained two public wards, linen closet, and storage room.

Joseph Ratti at the age of sixty-one died unexpectedly on October 25, 1906, while visiting his native home, Rogeno in the Italian province of Como, near Milano. At the time of Ratti’s death he had never transferred the deed for the hospital property to the hospital corporation. However, with the settling of his estate, the heirs in 1907 gave the hospital deed to the hospital corporation.

Five years later, in July 1912, Bloomsburg saw the opening of a new and larger hospital, a four storied brick structure, just to the west of the old hospital. In the same year the hospital corporation decided to change the hospital name to "Bloomsburg Hospital." The reason was to "remove the impression of the public that it was a private hospital conducted for personal gain."

Bloomsburg’s first two hospital buildings located on East Fifth Street still exist today but are used as apartment buildings.